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It’s a big victory for trans rights.
A federal judge inIndiana has granted a preliminary injunction requiring the Indiana Department of Correction to provide gender-affirming surgery fortransgender inmate Autumn Cordellioné.
The decision comes after Cordellioné, a trans woman currently incarcerated in a facility for men, challenged the constitutionality of Indiana’s 2023 law banning gender-affirming surgeries for prisoners.
United States District Court Judge Richard L. Young ruled on Tuesday that the state’s ban on gender-affirming surgery likely violates the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the care is deemed necessary. The ruling mandates that the IDOC arrange for Cordellioné to receive the surgery immediately.
The case centers on a state law that prohibits the use of state resources to provide gender-affirming surgeries for incarcerated people. Cordellioné, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, has been undergoing hormone therapy and social transitioning but argued that surgery is medically necessary to address her ongoing distress. The court’s decision affirms what major medical associations have long argued: that surgery is essential in some cases for the treatment of severe gender dysphoria.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana represented Cordellioné in her legal battle. The organization argued that the blanket denial of gender-affirming surgery amounted to deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, as established under the Eighth Amendment and discriminated against transgender individuals in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The court agreed with the ACLU’s arguments, concluding that Cordellioné’s need for gender-affirming surgery was both urgent and medically necessary.
In a statement following the court’s decision, Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, emphasized the broader implications of the ruling for transgender rights. “Today marks a significant victory for transgender individuals in Indiana’s prisons. Denying evidence-based medical care to incarcerated people simply because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are pleased that the Court agreed.”
The ruling also reinforces that states are required to provide adequate medical care to incarcerated people, a principle grounded in the U.S. Constitution.
Cordellioné, who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2020, has faced multiple suicide attempts and incidents of self-harm due to the severity of her condition. While hormone therapy has provided some relief, Cordellioné has long argued that surgery is essential for her mental and physical well-being. Her legal team, along with experts who testified in her case, emphasized that her dysphoria could not be fully alleviated without the surgery.
Young’s ruling affirms that Indiana’s law represents unconstitutional discrimination based on sex. The judge cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which determined that discrimination againstLGBTQ+ people is a form of sex discrimination.
